1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of managing a product protected by an intellectual property right (including a patent right, a utility model right, a design right, a trademark right, a copyright, or a right of circuit arrangement use; this also applies in the following description).
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a semiconductor technique in an electronics field has made remarkable development, and integrated circuits (ICs) or large-scale integrations (LSIs) are incorporated even in very familiar portable devices. Consequently, demands have been increasing not only for ICs and LSIs but also for compound integrated circuits in which these are functionally integrated. In addition, since it is expected that electrification of household articles will further progress from now on, potential demands are extremely large.
However, lifecycles of familiar portable electronic devices utilizing an IC or the like (e.g., a cellular phone, a PDA, etc.) are short, and it is not rare that a model of a product is changed in two to three years or in about one year in some cases. Manufacturing consignees of products with a short lifecycle are forced to reduce a period for product development and reduce a delivery period, and to bear more burdens in that development costs cannot be recovered finally and a burden of capital investment is heavy. In particular, in a business form such as a major company which performs all of research and development, mask design, and manufacturing thoroughly in the company, the company itself bears all of the above-mentioned burdens and cannot distribute risks.
Therefore, recently, a business form has been increasing in which a mask design company (so-called design house) produces a photo mask based upon a design of the company and passes the photo mask to a semiconductor manufacturing consigned company (foundry) together with a license to manufacture a product in consignment. A foundry is a company which specializes in manufacturing, owns a large-scale production line, and manufactures and delivers a product according to a request from a consigning company as its business. The production line is characterized in that it can cope with various specifications and requests from the consigning company and owns a manufacturing ability for coping with production of many kinds of products in small quantities.
A consigned company is mainly a company not owning its own factory, a so-called fabless, which can avoid risks due to the burden of capital investment by utilizing a foundry and can apply its own capital to research and development. In addition, even a major company distinguishes burden of development and burden of capital investment by consigning a manufacturing portion to a foundry to perform risk avoidance such as prevention of a problem of inability to recover development costs. As described above, as a matter of fact, the number of companies has been increasing which utilize a foundry with an aim of coping with the risk avoidance by distribution of risks of each company and the increase in demands for electronic products with a short lifecycle.
However, some products manufactured in a foundry do not have an imprint of a part number or the like and do not include information on a manufacturer, a consignor, and the like. Although these products are consigned to some foundry by a certain consignor and manufactured, manufactures and consignors thereof cannot be specified. Here, a most significant problem is a problem of intellectual property rights. That is, even if a product infringing an intellectual property right is included in products manufactured in the foundry, it is likely that interests of a just rightful claimant is spoiled because an object on which a right should be exercised cannot be specified.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to secure interests of a just rightful claimant of an intellectual property right and to provide a product management method for clearly confirming attribution of rights.
Note that examples of a representative product in the present invention include a liquid crystal display module, an electroluminescent (EL) display module, and other display modules (which, in this specification, is assumed to indicate a display panel which is modularized with a terminal attached), or semiconductor integrated circuits such as a logic IC and an IC for special applications (ASIC).
The present invention is a product management method including the following structure. That is, the present invention is a product management method for a display module or a semiconductor integrated circuit including a circuit constituted by integrating transistor which is formed using a thin film semiconductor on a substrate, which is characterized in that at least one of thin films constituting the transistor to form information indicating a specific subject relating to the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit in a manufacturing process of the transistor and clarify the specific subject. Here, the specific subject relating to the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit indicates a person involved in manufacturing, sales, designing, or other related duties of the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit. This also has an objective of clarifying attribution of an intellectual property right for the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit.
In addition, the formation of the information indicating a specific subject is attained by forming characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof using at least one of thin films constituting a transistor. That is, a specific subject relating to a display module or a semiconductor integrated circuit is clarified according to an indication of characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof (hereinafter referred to as marking). Note that xe2x80x9cpersonxe2x80x9d includes not only an individual but also a corporation or an organization having a judicial personality as well as a country, a municipal corporation, or an independent administrative agency.
That is, the present invention is characterized in that, in a manufacturing process of a transistor to be formed as a component of a display module or a semiconductor integrated circuit, characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof is formed, by patterning a thin film, using a photolithography step, an etching step, or the like which is a part of the manufacturing process, whereby attribution of an intellectual property right, that is, a rightful claimant of the intellectual property right, a person licensed to use the intellectual property right, or a person responsible for the intellectual property right is clarified.
In the present invention, other than indicating a rightful claimant of an intellectual property right for the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit according to the indication of characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof, a manufacturing consignee (manufacturing order receiver), a manufacturing consignor, a product receiver (which refers to a person equivalent to a shipment destination or a delivery destination of a manufactured display module or semiconductor integrated circuit; this also applies in the following description), or a product number (which refers to a part number, a product model, a model number, or other characters, numeral, symbol, or combination thereof attached for specifying a product; this also applies in the following description) of the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit may be indicated. In addition, a designer (including a system designer, a circuit designer, and a mask designer; this also applies in the following description) of a circuit constituting the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit, or a date of mask manufacturing may be indicated. It goes without saying that these may be written together. Note that a product receiver is not always a manufacturing consignor, and a third party different from the manufacturing consignor may be a product receiver.
In addition, in the present invention, the indication of a rightful claimant of an intellectual property right, or a manufacturing consignee, a manufacturing consignor, a product receiver, or a product number of a display module or a semiconductor integrated circuit, or a designer of a circuit constituting the display module or the semiconductor integrated circuit, or a date of mask manufacturing is not only performed by the rightful claimant of an intellectual property right (licensor) itself but can be obligatory to a licensee, who is licensed to use the intellectual property right. This obligation arises through an agreement to be entered into between the rightful claimant and the licensee. In addition, in the case in which the licensee consigns manufacturing to a subcontracting manufacturing consignee, it is also possible to obligate the licensee to show the indication to the manufacturing consignee.
Note that, the present invention is a method concerning product management of a liquid crystal display module, an EL display module, and other display module capable of displaying videos according to electric signals, or a logic IC, an IC for special applications, and other semiconductor integrated circuits. However, a relationship among xe2x80x9cpersonsxe2x80x9d such as a rightful claimant, a licensee, and a manufacturing consignee included in the configuration of the present invention is not limited to that of people belonging to an identical country but those having a relationship extending over two countries or a large number of countries are also included in the present invention.
Note that, although the method for marking which is a characteristic of the present invention only may be arranged among a rightful claimant of an intellectual property right, a licensee, and a manufacturing consignee, it is preferable to use a method with which a marking is not forged by a third party (infringer of a right). This is because, if a marking is forged by a third party, it is difficult to attain the present invention.
Therefore, the present invention becomes more effective by forming the marking using a peculiar technique owned by the rightful claimant of an intellectual property right or a technique which is publicly known technically but is not usually implemented by people other than the rightful claimant of the intellectual property right. In addition, if the peculiar technique itself has an intellectual property right, the value of marking can obtain a synergistic effect.
In addition, in order to prevent the marking method from being forged by a third party, as a method for this purpose, for example, it is sufficient to devise a method in performing the marking using a thin film on a substrate in a semiconductor field, although there are differences in manufacturing industries of each field. As a more specific method, it is sufficient to intentionally contain a specific element or substance in a part or all of characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof of the thin film constituting the marking.
Then, the rightful claimant of an intellectual property right can analyze characteristics of the thin film forming the marking and distinguish whether a product is infringing the intellectual property right by using, for example, a program characterized by adopting an SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy) as means for reading the marking. In addition, the number of infringing products can be managed collectively by a computer using the program.
In addition, as the other methods for preventing the marking method from being forged by a third party, characteristics of the thin film constituting the marking may be changed periodically. As a specific method, it is sufficient to change selection of characters, a figure, a symbol, or a numeral, or a combination thereof in the thin film constituting the marking or change an arrangement thereof. In addition, in the case in which a specific element or substance is intentionally contained in a part or all of the thin film constituting the marking as described above, it is sufficient to change a concentration thereof. If these changing means are used, since there are countless methods of forming the marking, it is usually difficult to manage the methods of marking. Thus, it becomes easy to manage the methods accurately by managing a changed pattern of the thin film constituting the marking using a server (computer) as a management method. Here, a person who manages the server may be an administrator of an intellectual property right or may be a licensee (manufacturing consignee).
By using such a marking method, the marking can be prevented from being forged by a third party.